Book One: Water: The Boy in the Iceberg
by thatlittlebluehouse
Summary: This is my attempt at turning the show I so enjoyed into a story as would be written in a book. Will get more adult as the chapters and books and fanfic wears on. I am in no affiliation with any of the copyrights of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I just enjoy writing fanfiction! Please leave detailed notes on what you think and feel free to correct grammar mistakes.
1. 1-1 Katara

My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace, when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. That all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar masters of all four elements. Only the Avatar could stop the ruthless firebenders, but when the world needed him most he vanished. Now a hundred years has passed since anyone has seen him, and the Fire Nations victory over the whole world nears to a close. Two years ago my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation. Leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn in the Air Nomads, and that the cycle was broken. I haven't lost hope though. I still believe that somehow that Avatar will return and save the world.

BOOK ONE: WATER

THE BOY IN THE ICEBERG

Our own little village, in a part of the once great Southern Water Tribes, has been all but eradicated. There was a time that even I am old enough to remember, when we were a few hundred people strong. Now, with the Fire Nations' army having wiped out all the benders of our tribe and the men off to fight in the war, it leaves much to be desired. These days, we have only twenty one people in our village.

With all the men gone, and the elderly and children being either too old, or too young, the biggest jobs fall on rest of the us. That's just a few people. Today my brother and I are fishing further off shore than ever before. A huge migration of giant penguins made fishing near the shoreline a difficult task. I am the youngest of the able-bodied hunters and workers, but I'm not that young. I'm almost an adult. In just a year and nine months I'll be sixteen and I can do whatever I want, maybe even leave our village and try to help in the war like my father. He's so brave.

I share a boat with my brother on fishing trips. He is a year older than me, and boy does he let me know it. He tries to use that to his advantage, but it hardly ever works. He also thinks that since he's a boy, he makes the decisions for the family. What a laugh! Sometimes though, he can really get on my nerves.

"It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara," he told me, "this how you catch a fish!" The same fish which he'd been after for fifteen minutes swam by the boat, just taunting us now. Sokka raised his spear, one which he carved himself of the silvery grey stone sometimes found in the frozen expanse of our homeland. Sokka was waiting for just the right moment to plunge the spear down when another fish swam by. I lifted my hands and removed my gloves, I took a deep breath. Concentrating on the water around the fish, I moved my hands in a circular motion, palm over palm. The icy waters around the fish began to ripple. Then the water rose up in a perfect bubble encasing the fish. Sokka still hadn't thrown the spear on the other end of our boat.

"Sokka look!" I couldn't take my eyes off of the fish or the water.

"Shh, Katara you're gonna scare him away…" he whispered. "I can already smell it cooking!" he said to himself, hushed so not to scare the fish himself.

"But Sokka, I caught one!" the water was getting wobbly now. I moved the bubble and the fish slowly over head and above the boat. I was going to move it down towards the basket and just then Sokka lifted the spear to throw again, popping my bubble. The fish I caught jumped back into the sea, freezing cold water from my bubble dropped on Sokka's head, soaking him.

"Hey!" I shouted as he popped it, even though I knew it wasn't on purpose.

"Ahh!" he screeched, startled from the splash. His fish swam away. "Why is it that every time you play with your magic water, I get soaked?"

"Sokka, it's not magic it's bending! It's…" I got cut off from explaining to him, again, how bending was once a part of our culture and society.

"Yeah, yeah… It's an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah… Look, I'm just saying if I had had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes as he rambled on.

"You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscle poses at myself every time I see my reflection." I couldn't even finish my statement before I saw him looking down into the water. He turned to say something, but just as he did our boat shuddered. We had drifted right into a fast moving current heading directly for an iceberg.

Sokka grabbed the ore, trying to paddle enough to stay clear of the large destructive pieces of ice also ridding the current. I tried to guide him through with the occasional 'watch out' and 'go left'. It didn't help though, as two too large pieces of ice came on either side of the small vessel and crushed it beneath our feet. We were able to jump up and onto one of the slabs of ice. At first it was hard to hold on, but then we were out of the current. It swept us out far. Now we were just one piece of ice in the middle of tens of others.

"That was a left?" I asked Sokka, blamingly.

"You don't like my steering? Well maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice!" he rolled his eyes and waved his hand to mock bending.

"So it's my fault?" I snapped.

"I knew I should just have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up!" the moment he said it he knew he was in for it. I got so mad I started to shake. Actually, so did the water.

"You are the most sexist, immature, nutbrained… ahh" I shouted in frustration, the water behind me started to rise without me even knowing. "I am embarrassed to be related to you!" I threw my fists down to my sides and sent quakes threw the water so fast that when it hit the iceberg behind me it cracked right up the middle. I was still oblivious to anything but my anger at that point. I just kept ranting. "Ever since mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

"Katara…"

"I cook the food, I wash the dishes, I clean the hut, I even wash the clothes, and have you ever smelled your dirty clothing? Let me tell you… not pleasant!" I threw my hands back again. Another, rather large, unstable crack to the iceberg.

"Katara, settle down!" Sokka said and I saw the fear in his eyes. That just fueled my fire. I was winning.

"No! That's it! I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own!" This time I threw my hands back and stomped my foot against the ice on which we stood. This time, I also heard the loud sound of cracking and crumbling. I turned to see chunks of ice hurdling towards us and splashing into the sea. The iceberg I cracked was pretty big, and so was the wave its pieces made. We clutched for dear life to the edge of the floating slab of ice as we were thrust back and again further out to sea.

"Okay, really, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." I should have been offended when he said that, but all I could think was how cool that was.

"You mean I did that?" I said astonished.

"Yep. Congratulations." Sokka said, back to being sarcastic and jerky.

Then, to make matters a little more interesting, the water below us started to glow and bubble. Another surge pushed us back as something from below started to rise. An iceberg bobbed up. It was glowing and round and appeared to be hollow.

"Oh my goodness." I said under my breath. I grabbed Sokka's hand. He was annoying sometimes, but he was also my big brother and it made me feel safe to know he was close by. When it came to a steady float, I dropped his hand and moved forward to look into the hollow spot. A large and fluffy something and a boy seemed to be frozen inside. Odd, but not unheard of. Gran Gran told me a story about when she was a child. An iceberg floated up to the towns shore and inside the people found cargo from and old Fire Nation Naval Ship. The supplies lasted them for a few weeks, she said. But this was a boy. Just a kid, and some sort of animal I've never seen before. Then the whole iceberg started to glow brighter and the boy started to glow too. His eyes shot open and his whole body was illuminating a bluish-white light.

Sokka and I stepped back, amazed by what we were seeing. Then something occurred to me. The boy was alive. The boy in the iceberg was alive and we needed to do something to help.

"Sokka! He's alive! He's alive, Sokka! We've got to help!" I reached into the sheath on Sokka's back and pulled out another weapon he had crafted himself. It was a club craved from a polar bear femur bone. I ran with it towards the iceberg.

"Wait! Katara get back here!" Sokka called after me. "We don't know what that thing is." He grabbed his spear and ran after me as I hopped from ice to ice. Finally, I made it to the iceberg and before thinking any further swung and whacked the wall with the club. It didn't really do much. It made just a little dent, but I kept whacking and hacking, hoping to bust through. Then a burst of air and snow and ice flew back at me from inside the berg. My brother jumped on top of me to keep my face from making contact with the icy gust. The whole thing started to crack starting at the spot where I had been hitting. As the crack stretched up to the top of the ice, the glow started to seep out. Then at the very top, the glow of blue light shot with a mighty force straight into the sky, past the clouds and into the chasm of space. It made a sound, too. A low, unremitting chime that got louder as the seconds wore on. It got so loud, we had to cover our ears and I could hear faintly animals barking and cawing at the sound too. The vibration of the sound divided the ice.


	2. 1-2 Zuko

As we sailed into the frozen wastes of the southern pole, I thought for sure we wouldn't upturn anything of use. We were down here on our seemingly never ending search for the Avatar. I was freezing cold and not very happy about it; but if it turned up the Avatar, I could manage to wait it out. I was just about to give up after more than three weeks floating aimlessly through the southern waters and not even seeing a single sign of the Avatar or the Water Tribes said to once dominate the landscape.

Disappointment.

That's the reason I'm out here in the first place. My father's disappointment. Disappointment in myself. It made me an angry and confused person. I know that now, but then it was not so clear. As I stood silent on the deck, looking out over the water and icebergs I saw a straight beam of blue light shooting up to the sky.

"Finally." I broke the silence in a hushed tone. I moved closer to the rail of the ship as if it would help me see. The light was obviously many miles away, but dead ahead. I turned to my uncle, ex-General of the Fire Nation's Armed Forces, and ex-heir to the throne, something we had in common. "Uncle, do you realize what this means?" I said, though it almost seemed he didn't hear me. He was a man of simple pleasures, and it made me angry that he didn't see why I felt the way I felt about so many things. Like why this massive blue light was important to my search for the Avatar.

"Yes…" he said without moving his gaze from the tiles in front of him. "I won't get to finish my game." He moved another piece on the game board.

I sighed at his ineptitude.

"It means, Uncle, that my search is about to come to its end." I said exasperated. I pointed to the light and raised my voice. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!"

"Or, it's just the celestial lights." Uncle said moving another piece to the one player game. "We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming, jasmine tea?" Uncle motioned to the black, red and gold kettle with fresh, hot steam pouring out the spout and the two cups next to it on the table where he sat playing his game.

"I don't need any calming tea!" I screamed. "I need to capture the Avatar! Helmsman, head a course for the light!" I turned my attention up to the top of the tower where the wheelman stood. As I turned back to watch the light a commanding gust of wind blew hard over the decks of my ship. My uncle's game tiles even fluttered a bit. The wind was accompanied by a low sound that seemed to go on for minutes and a slight vibration of the ship made me smile to think this could actually be something worthwhile.


	3. 1-3 Katara

As the resonating sound came to a slow and then to a halt, the wind died down and the vibrations stopped. The glow dimmed a bit and Sokka and I opened our eyes. Standing up, Sokka prepared for the worst extending his spear in front of us, held steady in both hands.

Then a shocking sight.

The glowing boy crawled up onto the ledge of the cracked ice and stood up still glowing. He couldn't have been more than a few years younger than us. Maybe twelve, thirteen? His head was bald, like a monks', and he wore strange clothes. Certainly not appropriate for the weather of the south pole. He was very pale, much lighter than the people of the Sothern Water Tribe. The glowing blue light seemed to snake it's way around his arms and legs, glowing right through the cloth that covered his body.

"Stop!" Sokka yelled at the boy. As soon as he stood up tall and straight he stopped glowing altogether and collapsed. No longer seeing him as an immediate threat, Sokka dropped his spear and I ran to him. I caught him in my arms just as he slid down the outer part of the ice shell that housed him. Sokka turned the blunt end of the spear on him and poked the seemingly unconscious boy.

"Stop it!" I said pushing the stick from him. I turned back to face the boy who was now moaning and I saw his eyelids flutter. He opened his eyes slowly. He had large grey eyes and he looked deeply into my soul. Or so it felt. We gazed at each other for a few moments. His bald head was tattooed with a blue arrow. The arrow head stopped at his forehead pointing down. The begging was not visible as it trailed into his shirt. Then he started to say something.

"I need to ask you something…" he whispered in a raspy voice.

"What?"

"Please come closer…"

"What is it?"

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

"Uh… sure? I guess." I was taken aback. I didn't know what to say. I let him go and leaned back to a sitting position. He was getting ready to stand up but instead he sort of jumped and floated down to the ground. Sokka fell backwards in surprise. My mouth dropped open. Did he just bend air? No couldn't be. There haven't been any airbenders for a century.

"What's going on here?" the boy said looking around and rubbing his bald head.

"You tell us!" Sokka yelled back at him. "How did you get in the ice?" he said pointing with his spear to the pile of crumbled ice behind the boy. "And why aren't you frozen?" he said pointing the spear at the boy now. The boy from the iceberg nonchalantly pushed the spear by the sharp end away from him.

"Not sure…" he said. The three of us heard a low and deep growl of an animal. Sokka and I shied away from the noise being that it was a growl not a purr. The boy from the iceberg, however, acted like it had been a purr. His face lit up with a wide grin. He climbed to the top of the crack towards the growl, jumped off the edge, and slid down to meet the animal that was inside the ice with him.

"Appa!" he said lovingly and hugged the huge beast. "Appa, are you alright? Wake up, buddy!" he lifted the animals eyelid and let it fall back to the closed position. He jumped down in front of the animals face; he tried to lift its mouth open. Grunting, he could only move the lip and the whole mouth stayed shut. Sokka and I walked around to get a better view of what was happening. That's when we saw the beast in its entirety. Again my mouth fell open in astonishment and Sokka gasped out loud, clutching his spear. Just as we turned the corner to see the boy apparently trying to budge the large animal, the creature opened its mouth with no help from the boy and caught him on his tough. The creature was so big that the boy easily fit inside its mouth like a snack. He just laughed though.

"You're okay!" he said with a smile and he patted the animal like a pet. He hopped down to the floor and turned to give his friend a hug.

"What the hell is that thing?" Sokka asked, still spear ready.

"Well," said the boy, "this is Appa. He's my flying bison." He turned to pat Appa again.

"Yeah, right." Sokka rolled his eyes. "This is Katara," he said gesturing to me, "she my flying sister." Then I rolled my eyes. Suddenly we heard a grumbled noise from deep within Appa. He opened up his mouth and took a deep breath.

"Look out!" the boy called ducking down low. Luckily Sokka and his sexist ways, chose to stand in front of me and took the blunt of the snot shot out at us. Sokka started to gag and shake in disgust.

"Don't worry." The boy said reassuringly, "It'll wash out."

Sokka didn't respond. He was busy throwing himself on the ground, rolling in attempt to get the slime off. There was enough snot to justify Sokka flailing on the ground. It really wasn't an over exaggerated act.

"So, do you guys live around here?" the boy asked before again looking at the sharp end of Sokka's spear.

"Don't answer that!" Sokka yelled back at me without taking his eyes of the boy. "Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Nation Navy." Now the boy was holding his hands up in defense.

"Oh, yeah." I said, "Sure, he's a spy for the Fire Nation, you can tell by the evil look in his eyes." I turned to look at him once again, now stepping between my brother and this boy. He smiled a wide grin at me and Sokka. I smiled back, then I sighed. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka." I gestured to my brother. "You haven't told us your name."

"I'm…" he started to say but then he sneezed as powerful a sneeze as Appa that literally blew him up into the sky impossibly high. The air he blew from his sneeze was like a blast of air. He floated back down like he was controlling the air again. When he landed on the edge of the ice he slid down all the way to where we were standing and landed on his feet.

"I'm Aang." he said, scrunching his nose up after such a significant sneeze.

"You just sneezed, and flew ten feet in the air!" Sokka sounded as shocked as I felt. He pointed towards the sky.

"Really?" Aang said looking disappointed, "Felt higher than that."

"You're an Airbender." I declared.

"Sure I am." he said.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders…" Sokka looked up at the sky like he wasn't really sure of where he was. "I must have Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going back home where stuff makes sense." he started to walk away. When he got to the edge of the iceberg he looked down to see the mass expanse of water between him and… well everything.

"Well, if you guys are stuck," Aang started, "Appa and I could give you a lift." The offer was very generous. Aang spun around on his toes like he was going to start dancing, but instead he lifted right off the ground and kept spinning till he was as high as Appa's head. Then he pushed himself backwards to be over his head, and sat down on top of it, right in the middle of Appa's arrow, which matched Aang's arrow. Around Appa's horns, which were on either side of his head, a riding rein was tied. Aang grabbed the rein and invited us up onto the bison.

"We'd love a ride! Thanks Aang." I said and I ran towards Appa.

"Oh no!, I'm not getting on that fluffy snot monster!"

"Were you hopping some other kind of monster will come along to give you ride home? You know, before you freeze to death?" Sokka raised his hand in protest, but did not have the winning argument. Aang helped me up onto Appa's back where he wore a very large saddle; really, it looked more like a boat. In the saddle was a long piece of wood intricately carved and it looked like it opened. I didn't touch it but it was interesting to look at.

"Okay, all first time flyers hang on tight!" Aang grabbed the reins again and to Appa said, "YipYip." The bison slapped his enormous tail on the icy floor and took off into the air. Just as we had sailed into the air, the bison fell out of the air and landed with a splash in the icy cold ocean water. "Appa? YipYip!" Aang said again. The bison didn't budge. So he swam instead of flew us home.

"That was truly amazing!" Sokka said somewhat to himself, sarcastically. I know he doesn't know I saw the real fear in his eyes just before we took off. I let him have that one. I was too fascinated to care about my dumb brother and his dumbness.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky." Aang made a flying motion with one of his hands, and a windy swishing noise with his mouth. "You'll see!" Aang turned around to face the two of us. He was smiling at us, or was it me… Yes he was really smiling at me. It made me blush. I smiled back.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I laughed, feeling the heat in my face rise.

"Oh! Uh, was I smiling?" he said nonchalantly, and he turned away. In the background, I could heard Sokka making a gagging sound, which got my face even hotter.


	4. 1-4 Zuko

As we cruised through the ice and water, I stood atop the tallest tower watching as we got closer and closer to the spot where the light had been. It had only lasted a few moments then it was gone, it was getting late and we were still miles out. It wasn't dark, just dim; this part of the world was still in daylight for the next few months. I heard footsteps behind me and heard the familiar voice of my teacher, my Uncle Iroh. He stood for a moment, maybe looking out over the waters as I was; maybe he was looking at me.

"Well," he said, "I'm going to bed now." I heard a yawn and a stretch and a sigh. "Yep, a man needs his rest…" he paused. "Prince Zuko," he started again, "you need some sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, your grandfather, and great grandfather, have all tried and failed."

"Their honor didn't hinge on the Avatars capture. Mine does. This coward's hundred years of hiding are over." I said in a low, angry voice.

Then I heard the footsteps again, this time they were fading.


	5. 1-5 Katara

We had been on Appa's back now for maybe half an hour. Sokka had curled up and fallen asleep, snoring loud enough to alert the village that we were on our way. Aang had laid down on his back on Appa's head facing me but looking up at the sky. It was night time, although the sun stayed up with us during this time of year. Aang watched the clouds floating by.

I watched Aang watch the clouds.

I couldn't tell how I felt about Aang. He's pretty cute, for a monk… for a kid. He made me blush. He's really nice, not dumb like my brother. I liked him, but did I like him? Or is it more of a fascination? He was trapped in ice with a really weird, really big animal. His entrance was unbelievable, with lights and sounds and vibrations. He's an Airbender. Just that without all the crazy other parts was interesting.

The Fire Nation had made the Air Nomads an extinct race of people as their first order of business at the start of the war, in search for the Avatar who was reborn into the Nation of the Air Nomads. With the Avatar gone, the Fire Nation could easily take over the world. It was said they were all gone after that. I worked up the guts to lean forward to talk to him.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." He said back. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, still looking at the clouds.

"Well, guess I was wondering… Your being an Airbender and all…" Aang nodded. "Well, I was wondering if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar." I asked, not really sure if it was appropriate. Aang's eyes opened wide. He leaned forward before he spoke.

"Uh… No. I didn't know him. I mean, I knew people who knew him, but, uh… I didn't. Sorry."

"That's okay. Just curious." We looked at each other for a few moments. "Well, goodnight." Then I turned over and laid down and before I was asleep I could hear snoring from both sides of me.


	6. 1-6 Aang

It was raining pretty hard, and I was really upset. Appa had lost control in the rain storm and started to go down. It was really cold water we landed in. Then a huge wave took us over and dragged us under. Appa and I were in danger. My hand released the rein and I started to drift away him. We were sinking and we were going to die. Just then something took over my whole body. My tattoos started to glow, my eyes started to glow. I made two fists and slammed them together bending the air in the sea water into a huge bubble to encapsulate myself and Appa. The freezing cold water around us turned to hard ice and we continued to sink.

"Aang. Aang? Aang, wake up!" Katara's voice pulled me out of sleep. She must've known I'd been having a nightmare. She put her bare hand on my bare back. "Aang, it's okay. We're in my village now." I looked around I was in a room made of ice covered in blue and purple fabrics and animal skins. I felt Katara's warm hand on my back. My bare back. Wait, where is my robe Katara stood up and pointed to my clothing. "Come on! Get ready. Everyone's waiting to meet you"

I grabbed my yellow robes and orange cape and belt. I slid on my boots and grabbed my glider staff which Katara must have brought in from Appa's saddle. While I was putting on my robes, I knew Katara was still there. I wasn't uncomfortable, but I didn't want to startle her. She was probably looking at my Air Temple Tattoos.

Blue arrows were tattooed on all fully realized Monks of the Air Nomads. Starting at the base of my spine the blue line goes straight up my back, up my neck, around the top of my head, and stops as an arrow head on my forehead. Starting at my shoulder blades on both sides, blue lines twist around arms and form an arrow head on the tops of my hands. Last, starting at my hip bones in the front of my body, the blue lines follow down my legs and made arrow heads on the tops of my feet.

I stood up, but before I could fix myself, she grabbed hold of me and dragged me from the room. Stumbling and trying to catch my feet, I had no choice but to follow. Sokka was sitting outside the door using a stone to sharpen a boomerang. I couldn't really tell if he liked me or not. I knew Katara liked me though, but I did wonder how much. She was the first thing I saw when I woke up from the ice. I am still grateful for that. I woke up to a pair of beautiful, brilliantly blue eyes. Katara is really pretty. I thought about her face as I trailed behind her on the way to the center of her village. Her dark brown hair was tied up in an impressive bun and she had two stands of blue, beaded hair trailing from her bangs into the rest of her hair that fell below the bun. The bronze skin of her hand wrapped around mine to drag me into her community. I turned around to look behind me. I saw Sokka again, still sharpening hiss weapon. He looked remarkably like her, but as a boy of course. He kept his hair tightly tied up on top of his head. The entire underside of his head was shaved, but prickly. He hadn't shaved it in some time. I shaved my head every morning, just like the other monks. Even the women in our tribe shaved some if not all of their hair off their heads.

We came to a stop, a few dozen people stood in front of me. Almost all of them were very old or very young. Almost all of them were women, too. Katara lifted her right hand and gestured to all the people. Her left hand still held mine.

"Aang," she started with a big smile on her face, "this is the whole village. Village, this is Aang." I bowed to them, as was a customary greeting. Well I thought it was. They all shied away from me though.

"Katara, why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me or something?" It had happened before. An old lady, who looked just like Katara, but old, stepped forward.

"Forgive us; no one has seen an Airbender in a long time. A hundred years. We thought your people were extinct from the world." She paused and looked me over. "That is until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

"Extinct?" this was the first I'd head of it.

"Aang," Katara said, probably trying to go in a different direction, "this is my grandmother, Kanna."

"Just call me Gran Gran, dear." The old woman said with a smile only and old person could give. Sokka had finally stood up from by the door and walked right up to me.

"So what's this supposed to be, a weapon?" he was referring to my glider staff. "You can't stab anything with this." He said, grudgingly.

"It's not for stabbing, it's for Air Bending." I used my bending to take the staff back. It was as if it flew right to me. I opened the glider and from the staff large orange sails appeared. Some of the crowd of children and elders ohhed, and ahhed at the glider. I moved the glider with my hand demonstrating how it worked.

"It allows me to control the air currents around the glider and fly." Sokka didn't seem impressed.

"You know, last time I checked humans can't fly."

"Well," I said, "check again!" I grabbed hold of the glider and lifted off the ground, I flew around for a moment just to prove a point, then as I was coming in for a landing, I caught a glimpse of Katara's smile as she watched me. So I took off again to show off a little. It worked. I could hear laughter and see the smiles of the crowd below. All, but Sokka that is, who was in a state of shock. In that moment of over confidence, I wasn't watching what I was doing, and I flew headfirst into a pile of snow. That pile of snow would be Sokka's 'watchtower'. Or so I gathered as I heard him scream when I hit it.

"That was amazing!" Katara ran up to me and helped me up. Sokka also ran over to where I was, but only to inspect the damage. A heap of snow fell down on top of him when he got there. Talk about adding insult to injury.

"Great," he said looking at us through the mound of snow. "You bend, she bends, now the two of you can just waste time all day, together!" he stood up and brushed the snow off his blue jacket.

"You're a bender?" I asked Katara.

"Yeah, well, sort of a Waterbender, well, not yet." she said sounding a little self conscious. Then Gran Gran came up behind us and told Katara she had things to do. I overheard Katara and her Gran Gran talking. Katara said something to the effect that I could teacher and her Gran told her I couldn't. I also heard Katara say she thought I was special. I went to go play with the little ones for a little while she fished her chores.


	7. 1-7 Zuko

"Again!" Iroh told me. I was dulling two crewmen on my ship deck. I jutted my arms in either direction and I could feel the heat build before two streams of fire shot from either palm. I spun and jumped and kicked some fire in their direct and blocked some of their own fire balls. Then I turned again and had both men pinned.

"No!" Uncle's voice shouted. "Power and Firebending come from the breath, not from the muscles. Your breath becomes energy in the body." Iroh closed his eyes and turned his palms up. He moved his hands up in front of his body, from down by his larger than used to be belly up to his chest, breathing deep the whole way through. "The energy extends past your limbs, and become fire!" As he said this last word his eye flew open and his palms pushed out from his body, fire emitted from them. "This time," he said, "do it right!"

"Ahh! No!" I threw my hands down and glared at my uncle. "I've been drilling this sequence all day! I know the whole thing. Teach me the next set!" I was confident to move forward and even if I wasn't ready, I didn't have time not to at least know the steps. "I'm more than ready, Uncle."

"No, Prince Zuko. You are impatient." My uncle just shook his head. I could feel the fire inside swelling at my anger. "You have yet to master the basics. Drill it again!"

I screamed out loud and turned and did the drill perfectly. Breath and all, knocking down one of the crewmen.

"All the sages tell us that the Avatar is the Last Airbender! He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a whole century to master all four of the damned elements. I will need more than basic Firebending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!" He finally agreed, but the old man pissed me off when he walked away to eat before he would show me.


	8. 1-8 Katara

"Alright, men!" Sokka walked up and down the line in front of the village boys. "It is important that you show no fear when you face the Firebenders. Water Tribe fight til the last man stands. Without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" The boys just looked at him. He could tell he was failing to catch their attention. "Guys listen. While your fathers are gone, while our fathers are gone, fighting in the war, they are counting on you to keep the Tribe safe." Nothing. I was really impressed by how quiet he'd got them all to be.

"Have you seen Aang?" I asked my brother, who had taken it upon himself to 'teach' the young boys of our tribe to fight. All six of them. Just then Aang walked into the snow arena where the boys practiced for 'battle'. Sokka obviously didn't care for Aang, but I wasn't sure why. Probably jealous. He was so much free spirited fun, and Sokka was so stiff and strict with his war stuff.

"Hey, Katara!" Aang called as he walked closer. "Hey, Sokka!"

"Katara, get him out of here, this arena is for warriors to practice and prepare for serious things like the war." I looked around at the children. The oldest was eight years old. So in response, I just rolled my eyes. By the time Sokka was finished complaining and I was finished rolling my eyes, Aang had gathered the kids and was playing in the snow with them. "Stop it!" he yelled to the children. Then he turned to Aang, "What the hell is wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games. We have a war going on." Aang dropped the airbended snow ball and walked up to Sokka.

"What war. What's going on?" Aang acted like really didn't know.

"Are you kidding me? The war…" Sokka couldn't finish his though Aang's eye grew wide. He started to run. I turned to see what he was looking at.

"Penguin!" he shouted. The penguin turned to run just as quickly as Aang was coming. When the penguin dropped to his belly to slide down the ice hill, Aang grabbed hold of his own feet and slid down behind the penguin. All the way to the bottom of the hill, we could hear him laugh. I really couldn't help but laugh myself. Sokka just sighed turned away back to 'teaching' his 'warriors'.

I decided to follow Aang's laughter and at the bottom of the hill, just outside the wall, was Aang, Aapa and lots of penguins. Aang tried catch hold of one while another bigger bird cam to peck at him.

"Aang, I'll help you with your penguin problem if you teach me Waterbending."

"Sounds good, Katara, but there's just one problem. I'm an Airbender, not a Waterbender." Aang lifted himself off the ground and the two penguins ran the other way. "Isn't there somebody in your tribe who can teach you?"

"No. You're looking at the only Waterbender in the whole South Pole. The Fire Nations Armies have been taking prisoner or killing all the Waterbenders here since before I was born. We've had to keep my bending a secret." I was so ashamed and sad to talk about how my people had been brutalized. If the Airbending Avatar had died, and no one knew, then his spirit would be reborn again into a Waterbending Tribe. That is how the Avatar Cycle goes. Air, Water, Earth, and finally, Fire. When the Avatar dies he, or she, will be reborn again to the next nation in the cycle. That's why the Fire Nation began to move on to capturing, or worse, waterbenders.

"Wait, that's not right. Waterbenders need to master water." Aang paused and thought for seemed like a long time. "Well," he continued, "if there aren't any Waterbenders in the South Pole, what about at the North Pole? That's where the biggest Water Tribe in the whole Nation is, right? Maybe they have Waterbenders that could teach you."

"Maybe so, Aang. But we haven't had any contact with the Northern Water Tribes in a long time. It's not exactly 'turn right at the second glacier' it's on the other side of the world."

"Well, I know of someone with a flying bison who could personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara we are gonna find you a Master!" Aang pointed at himself and smiled excitedly.

Wow.

"That's… I mean…" I couldn't find the words. "I don't know. I've never left home before."

"Okay, well, you think on it and let me know, but in the meantime, I'm gonna play with these penguins some more." I gave Aang a fish to help move the process along, after watching him fail miserably a few times. Then every penguin for a quarter mile was on him in no time. We each caught big penguin and sat on its back, then they took off down a hill and we held on for dear life and laughed all the way down. I made me feel like a kid again. That was exactly what I said.

"I haven't done this since I was little. I feel like a kid." I hollered to Aang as the wind breezed by my face on the way down the hill.

"But Katara, you are a kid!" Aang laughed some more and took the lead.

We zipped down a winding tunnel that would fill with water soon during the warmer months when the ice melted a little. As the mouth of the tunnel spat us out, the penguins came to a slow. When we got up the two black and white creatures got up and left, clearly down dealing with us.

After we finally settled down, we assessed where the tunnel let out. In front of us was the old Fire Nations Naval Ship from when my Gran Gran was a girl.

"Whoa." said Aang, "What is it?" he asked. I told him what it was and the story of how the Benders of my tribe were able to wreck it her. Aang moved towards it.

"Aang, wait! We can't go near it, it might be booby-trapped." Aang continued to walk forward.

"Katara, if you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear." Against my better judgment, I followed him to the ship and up the ice and into the ship. I didn't want him to think I was scared. The ship was made entirely of metal. We had some metal things in our village but nothing like this. It was hard to get fire that hot to melt and mold the metal, so we mostly used stone or ice.

We wondered the corridors and looked into the different rooms. I saw things that I wasn't sure of what they were and some things that I knew exactly what they were, but wished I hadn't. The ship was loud with silence. Eerie.

"This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nations first attacks." I told Aang, breaking the thick silence.

"Okay, Katara, back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation. I've never seen this war you and your both keep talking about."

"Aang, are you serious? How long were you in that iceberg?" How could you not know?

"I don't know really, a few days I guess." he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Aang this war is a hundred years old. This ship is from an attack when my Gran Gran was younger than me. I think you might have been in that iceberg for more like a hundred years." I couldn't believe it myself, but it did fit all the pieces together.

"What? That's impossible." he said. "Do I look like a one hundred twelve year old man to you? I mean, even bald, I'm not that old. So, no, it's impossible."

"Well, think about it, Aang. The war is a century old and you've never heard of it. Maybe because you were somehow inside that ice for all that time. It's the only explanation I see." It took a moment after I spoke last for the thought to sink in.

"A hundred years." Aang thought out loud. "All my friends, the other monks, my people. So much will have changed." I decided not to take this time to remind him that Air Nomad civilizations were extinct for a long time.

"Well maybe we can find a bright side to this." I told him not really sure what it could be.

"Well I did get to meet you." he said, taking a long moment to look at me with his deep, grey eyes. I blushed and realized he had taken hold of my hand. I stood up quickly and walked towards the doors.

"Come on, let's get out of here." I said, this place was giving me the chills, and Aang was warming me up, I needed some fresh air. We were all the way at the top of the ship when Aang stood up, he tripped a wire. A chain reaction went off and the metal gears in the room were twisting and grinding, then an explosion and a firework went off in the sky.

"Aang!" I was scared, this time for real. I didn't know what happened and Gran Gran and Sokka would be so mad with me. Aang blew open the port hole above us and grabbed me around the waist. Then I really felt my stomach turn. The blood rushed to my head again.

"Hang on tight!" he told me as he flew us through the window. He landed on the deck below with elegance that only an airbender could have. He hopped again a few times and finally we were safe on the ground. We ran for home.


	9. 1-9 Zuko

Through my telescope, I saw him. The Avatar. The Airbender. I knew right where to look after he set of that firework in an old rusty ship. My heart was racing. I'd never been this close. Someone was with him though. I didn't know who, nor did I care really. I was one step closer to capturing the Avatar.

One step closer to regaining my honor.

"Wake my uncle! Tell him I've found the avatar!" I watched through the spyglass and saw which way he and his companion were running to. Slowly I looked in that direction and saw the small village. Water Tribe, no doubt. "Tell him I've also found his hiding place."


End file.
